Synopsis: Peter Rabbit (James Corden) his three sisters Flopsy (Margot Robbie), Mopsy (Elizabeth Debicki), and Cotton Tail (Daisy Ridley) and their cousin Benjamin (Colin Moody) enjoy their days harassing old Mr. McGregor (Sam Neill) in his vegetable garden. After old McGregor’s death, his great-nephew (Domnhall Gleeson) inherits the house and seems to share his late uncle’s views about rabbits invading the garden. But when he starts to fall in love with the animal lover next door, Bea (Rose Byrne), his feelings towards Peter and the others begins to change. But is it too late?

I wasn’t quite sure what to think about this movie, but I ended up really enjoying it. The characters are endearing and charming, though sometimes the comedy can get a little crass (likely for the adult audience rather than the kiddies). My only real qualm with the movie is that it is supposed to be based on ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’. While the movie shares some of its source material with the beloved children’s books by Beatrix Potter (namely, the characters and the basic plotline of Peter repeatedly sneaking into the garden), I don’t think it is a true adaptation (The World of Peter Rabbit and Tales of Beatrix Potter more closely follow the books). That said though, I liked the different angle the writers took to make it a little more relatable to modern audiences. There is a running joke about the contrast in Bea’s paintings (her ‘real work’ is abstract at best while her drawings of the local wildlife (a side project) are much more captivating) that seems to hold up over the running time. The extermination methods McGregor uses go a little bit over the top and the ridiculousness just made me bored after a while. The back and forth between the rabbits and McGregor also have moments where the jokes fall a little flat, but for the most part, the exchanges are clever and engaging. The message about learning to understand others and to ask for forgiveness is important to instill in younger and adult viewers alike. It’s a cute family film that will be enjoyed by both kids and adults.

WARNING: There are VERY intense strobe effects in this movie. Be careful, this could cause an epileptic seizure or affect those with seizure disorders!!!

Synopsis: Having heard about the superheroes’ illegal antics to save their city, a high-powered executive at Devtech offers Elastigirl/Helen Parr a chance to help bring supers back into the light by showcasing crimefighting from her point of view. But while she’s off saving the world, Bob must figure out a way to care for their children without losing his mind.

The sequel literally picks up where the first movie left off with the Underminer’s attack and the Parr family donning their super suits to save the day – turns out, this does not go according to plan and the family is left cut off from their government protection program. When Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Frozone are approached by the Deavor siblings of Devtech, it appears that there is an apparent solution to their problem. The parallel plotlines deal with Elastigirl’s efforts to save the city from a new villain Screenslaver and Bob/Mr. Incredible’s struggles with being a stay-at-home dad. One particularly amusing scene involves Bob attempting to help Dash with his math homework; Dash criticizes his father for not doing it correctly and Bob throwing up his hands in frustration that they have apparently “changed math”. Bob also has some further trouble when he discovers Jack-Jack DOES have powers – multiple powers, in fact – that make the baby difficult to manage. Screenslaver’s use of hypnosis to control people on an individual level and on a mass level has some definite meat to it in terms of how it relates to the amount of screen time the movie characters and the audience experiences. It seems to send an underlying message about how attached we are to our computers, phones, and televisions and that the art of having a face-to-face conversation seems to be all but lost – a commentary the audience has no doubt heard before. Sadly, the villain reveal for me was not all that surprising, then again, it was hard to tell if it was meant to be a surprise since there were a fair amount of hints dropped in the first half of the film. The humor will be enjoyed by both kids and adults, though most of the humor seems to be aimed at adult-ish issues. There are sequences in which Violet and Dash experiment with being able to control and track their baby brother’s powers that are very much kid humor, along with a scene in which Jack-Jack has a battle with a raccoon that is raiding the Parr’s garbage cans. Overall, it was a solid sequel that will be enjoyed by viewers of all ages, though expect there to be varying reviews among adults.

Synopsis: Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his friends, family, and all of his classmates: he’s gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity. – from IMDB

As a book worm, I’m understandably skeptical when it comes to movie adaptations of novels, but I appreciated the depth of the plot and that it conveys the same main premise of the novel without diverging off in a completely different direction. I’ll refrain from waxing poetic about the differences between the book and the movie, but I will say that some of the truncated events made the story somewhat easier to follow. I liked that the movie shows how Simon and Blue’s email exchange begins and some of their earlier emails to each other, the latter of which isn’t included in the earlier editions of the book. I was a little disappointed that the talent show at the end of the book wasn’t included in the movie, but I appreciated the alternative ending since it takes you to the same climactic moment. I also had to have a little bit of a laugh at the fact that the high school musical was ‘Cabaret’ since the story deals with issues of racism and sexism and is really quite dark in contrast to Simon. I was a little confused by the addition of Mr. Worth (even though I love Tony Hale), but I suppose they needed another adult to fill out the screenplay. The cast themselves is nothing short of fun and I liked seeing the new faces of other up and coming thespians. Robinson is a delightful mix of confident and awkward as the titular Simon, and for me, perfectly conveyed the excitement of being in a new relationship and having an inner battle with who he really wants to be. The movie stand alone well on its own, so if you haven’t read the book before seeing the movie, you needn’t worry. It’s a high school drama love story about coming out that will be enjoyed by romantics and non-romantics alike.

Synopsis: Max has the perfect life with his owner Emily until one day she brings home Duke, a dog from the pound. When the two dogs get lost in the city and are on the run from animal control and a homicidal former magician’s rabbit named Snowball and his army of abandoned pets, they are going to have to rely on each other if they are going to get home to their owner.

Having grown up with pets (dogs, to be specific), I won’t deny there were times when I wondered what they did while I was at school or at work. I don’t think my dogs did anything nearly as epic as getting recruited by a gang of former pets dwelling in the city sewers or breaking into a sausage factory to find food. But that isn’t to say that pets don’t have adventures while their humans are away. What I liked about the film is the realistic personalities of each animal, especially the dogs. I also loved the blasé attitude of Chole the cat, who unwittingly gets dragged along on a mission to rescue Max and Duke. I was thoroughly amused by the fact that in almost every scene when she is in an apartment, she is sitting in some container – a box, a bowl, etc. I also appreciated the initial rivalry between Max and Duke, the former of whom feels threatened when Emily first brings home Duke. Max is so used to being the only dog in the house and the notion of having to share his space, his toys, and his human is absurd. But what Max learns over the course of his adventures with Duke is that the larger dog has also had his share of difficulties that have left an impression on him. The compassion the dogs eventually develop for each other and for Snowball and his gang leave the viewer with a warm fuzzy feeling that will have them wanting to give their own pets some love. It’s a fun family film that will delight pet lovers of all ages.

Synopsis: When the ghoulish Bergens invade the Troll Village to steal its citizens for their annual Trollstice Feast, Princess Poppy recruits fellow villager/hermit/doomsday prepper Branch to journey to Bergen Town to rescue her friends.

I honestly don’t know what I was expecting from this movie, but it was definitely girlier than I anticipated. Maybe it was something about the metallic trolls farting glitter or the hugging/singing/dancing nature of the trolls themselves. Sadly, even Branch’s depressed mood and color scheme didn’t do much in the way of making it less girly. Nonetheless, the film’s upbeat energy and the character’s happy-go-lucky attitude is truly infectious even in the most dire of circumstances. Poppy’s self-confidence and positivity sharply contrasts with Branch’s curmudgeonly demeanor, even when he agrees to help Poppy save her friends from certain doom. The Bergens themselves are just as depressed: their only true joy comes from the consumption of Trolls once a year and, as King Gristle Sr. tells his son, there is no other way to be happy. In their own ways, both the Trolls and the Bergens are searching for happiness, but it seems that only one truly knows how to achieve it. While there are part of the movie that seem trite and overly optimistic, the message of perseverance is one that resonates with viewers of all ages and encourages us to see the bright side of life.

Synopsis: Buster Moon’s greatest ambition has been to run a theater ever since he was a young Koala. So when the Moon Theater’s ledger goes deeply in the red, Buster decides to host a singing competition in an effort to save the institution he loves. Little does he realize that the contestants will not only change his life, but their own lives a well.

While the film centers around humanoid animals in a fictional city, the characters each touch on the different ways that one can go about pursuing their dreams. Ash, a porcupine, was just dumped by her boyfriend because he didn’t like that she wanted to sing lead and write her own songs. Meena is a shy elephant with a beautiful voice and a severe case of stage fright. Rosita is a stay-at-home pig mom who yerns to do something beyond taking care of her 25 offspring. Johnny isa gorilla with a natural born talent for singing that is being talked into helping out with the shady doings of his father’s gang. Mouse Mike is a street musician with a big ego in search of some recognition for his hard honed talents. Their ability to keep going in spite of the many setbacks the group endures while prepping for the big performance shows the audience that our ability to dream big dreams and fulfill them is only limited by our own discouragement. We find ourselves cheering for each of these contestants, hoping that they are able to break out of their shells and show the city and the rest of the world what they are made of. The film is largely formulaic in terms of its plotline, but the soundtrack and the eclectic nature of the cast make it worth the hour and forty-five minute runtime. Like with most family films, there is a broad range to the humor that will appeal to viewers of all ages. Younger viewers will be espeically amused by Buster using his own body as a sponge to wash cars in one particular sequence while older viewers will connect with Donnie’s fear of his grandmother Nana, a famous opera singer back in the Moon Theater’s heyday. Overall, a cute and inspiring film about following your dreams and unleashing your inner animal.

Synopsis: It’s been five years since Hiccup and Toothless successfully united dragons and vikings on the island of Berk. While Astrid, Snotlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races (the island’s new favorite contact sport), the now inseparable pair journey through the skies, charting unmapped territories and exploring new worlds. When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace. Now, Hiccup and Toothless must unite to stand up for what they believe while recognizing that only together do they have the power to change the future of both men and dragons. – from Twentieth Century Fox

Dragon 2 has everything we loved about the first film and then some. I’m willing to admit that it isn’t better than the original, but I appreciated that it expanded the world and the characters that were established in How To Train Your Dragon. The world has gotten a lot bigger now that the Vikings have the dragons to travel around and beyond the boundaries of the island, and with a larger knowledge of the world comes new discoveries and complications. Hiccup is still struggling with the notion of doing the right thing, this time in regard to whether he will become the chief his father Stoic wants him to be and if he can solve a conflict without it resulting in an all out war between tribes. Hiccup is more of a man of words while his father is heavier on the action, resulting in a clash between the father and son that helps fuel the plot. He has enough daring and tenacity to go again what Stoic wants, and yet Hiccup knows that he can rely on his father to have his back when things start to get rough. We are introduced to a host of new dragons in this film of varying shapes, sizes, and colors that seem to lighten up a lot of the dramatic elements. I loved the bits with the baby dragons – sure, they don’t listen as Hiccup points out, but they are cute and their introduction becomes important toward the end of the movie. The bond of friendship is showcased once again between Toothless and Hiccup as well as between the other dragons and their riders. It makes us feel good to see such a strong connection between the Vikings and these potentially dangerous creatures and reminds us with the bond we have with our own friends and pets. It’s a fun family film with a heartwarming message and a well-balanced story.